Frederick M. Hess

In his new book Cage-Busting Leadership, education policy scholar Frederick (Rick) M. Hess aims to unveil what is possible for school, system, and state leaders despite the seemingly paralyzing rules, regulations, statues, and contracts in K-12 education. Rife with stories of cage-busters, Cage-Busting Leadership will help current and aspiring leaders understand how to overcome regulatory and contractual impediments and address practical and political challenges.

An educator, political scientist and author, Frederick M. Hess studies K-12 and higher education issues. His books include The Same Thing Over and Over, Education Unbound, Common Sense School Reform, Revolution at the Margins, and Spinning Wheels. He is also the author of the popular Education Week blog, “Rick Hess Straight Up.” Hess’s work has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, American Politics Quarterly, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, U.S. News & World Report, National Affairs, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Atlantic and National Review. He has edited widely cited volumes on education philanthropy, school costs and productivity, the impact of education research, and No Child Left Behind.  Hess serves as executive editor of Education Next, as lead faculty member for the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program, and on the review boards for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools. He also serves on the boards of directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, 4.0 SCHOOLS, and the American Board for the Certification of Teaching Excellence. A former high school social studies teacher, he has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University and Harvard University. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government, as well as an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum, from Harvard University.